With Dishonored: Game of the Year Edition ready for release in October, Arkane Studios is ramping up on what comes next — next-gen development. While we can’t talk about what’s on the horizon, we wanted to let prospective game developers know that they’re already building up their team for the next project.

Two key new positions opened up for Arkane’s Austin-based studio, a Lead Tech Programmer and a Tools Programmer. In addition to these new positions, the Austin office is hiring a wide range of additional art and engineering positions. Get a full rundown here.

Battlecry Studios, our newest studio which opened their doors in October, is looking for top talent to join their Austin, TX-based team. While we can’t tell you exactly what they’re working on yet, they’re already hard at work on redefining the Free-To-Play game space.

A full list of job openings can be found at jobs.zenimax.com. Listings currently include:

Today our sister studio in Hunt Valley, Zenimax Online Studios, put out a press release announcing that they’ve begun their second wave of hiring. Among recent hires, they’ve brought on Steve Escalante as their new Marketing Director and Rich Barham as Customer Service Director. We welcome both to the Zenimax family and wish them the best of luck.

With plans to increase the size of the team to more than 60 folks, they’ve still got some hirin’ left to do and you can head over to see a full list of the art, design, and programming positions they’re hiring for. They even have a 3D Art Test and an Environmental Art Test you can try your hand at to show you know your stuff.

In other news, Splash Damage mentioned they will be at Develop 2008, being held in Brighton at the end of the month. They’ll have a booth there and Studio Head Paul Wedgwood and Audio Director Chris Sweetman will both be giving talks during the event.

Finally, it’s worthy of note that Splash Damage is on the shortlist for several Golden Joystick awards for Enemy Territory: QUAKE Wars: Nuts All Nighter, PC Game of the Year, PlayStation Game of the Year, Xbox Game of the Year, UK Developer of the Year, and Ultimate Game of the Year. If you’re inclined to cast your vote, head to the Golden Joystick voting page.

Just a friendly reminder that tomorrow ZeniMax Online Studios will be having their job fair in Hunt Valley, MD. You can take a look at the job listings here. As Pete mentioned before, there are some opportunities at our office as well, including the World Art intern posting that Ash alluded to yesterday.

So if you’re interested, drag a comb through your hair and head on over to the Baltimore Marriott. And no, dressing in Elder Scrolls cosplay isn’t recommended…this isn’t Balticon.

Here’s a map of where the fair is being held…good luck to all that apply.

Once again, they (meaning our recruiter folks) will be talking to anyone interested in the list of positions that we’re currently looking to fill at Bethesda Softworks (list) and our sister company, ZeniMax Online Studios (list). So if you’re in the area or are going to GDC and are looking for employment in any of those areas, do stop by.

I know that Ashley and Matt are both going to Austin, but don’t know if either will be in our meeting room during the show itself. Maybe if you’re lucky you can snag an autograph from one of them. (Usually a Benjamin will coerce Ashley into giving up his, but you didn’t hear that from me.)